Back to Basics A company's simple yet refined T-shirts are a perfect fit for customers in more than 20 countries.

Vital Stats>> Greg Alterman, 38, of Alternative in Atlanta
Company>> A premium T-shirt and headwear compan
2007 projected sales>> More than $60 million

Newly fabricated>> Greg Alterman was only 19 when he discovered a basic wardrobe staple that fit him to a T. Designing T-shirts with his college logo and selling them from dorm to dorm was something he excelled at, but it also taught him a hard-knock lesson when he got in trouble for licensing infringement. Alterman smoothed out the wrinkle by going legit and ended up widening his clientele to include campus retail stores.

Tailor-made>> Before long, Alterman felt limited by the basics available to him. "They were too big, too rough, they didn't fit right, they looked horrible on, and they were itchy," says Alterman. "Everything about the [apparel] was what I didn't want, so I went off to create what I did want, and that became Alternative."